1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a plant enclosure device, and more particularly to a greenhouse that protects a single plant, or group of small plants, from harsh environmental conditions, but still allows access to the plant for watering, fertilizing and other gardening functions, and furthermore can be modified to allow a plant to slowly transition to being open to the environment so as to allow the plant within to harden without shock while potentially in a vulnerable condition.
2. Prior Art
It has long been known to be desirable to protect plants in seasonal climates from cold and other environmental factors at the ends of the growing season. In so doing, a person can effectively extend the usable life of plants and consequently enhance yield. This is desirable with regard to many planting schemes. Throughout this Application the term "plant" should be understood to mean a single plant or a group of plants planted immediately ajacent to each other in a "hill."
The prior art has many examples of plant greenhouses designed to protect young plants from the environment. Indeed, there is great motivation for finding a device that will enable a user or gardener to do more than simply protect young plants. While protection of plants from adverse conditions has been understood, the prior art has failed to address many problems introduced by enclosure of the plant. In many instances "the solution has been worse than the cure." Prior activity has not resulted in a plant protection system until now that provides all of the advantages of the present invention.
To thoroughly appreciate the innovations encompassed within the new design to be disclosed, it is necessary to understand the motivation and needs of the user, and where prior art systems have fallen short.
To begin, a user who desires to protect individual plants wants more than a greenhouse which seals out the environment. While necessary, a user also needs easy access. Plants often need nurturing that requires a user to add water or fertilizer. However, often overlooked is the need to get even closer with hands or other tools. Such access should not come at the cost of shocking a young plant when the entire greenhouse is removed for hand or tool access or when it's full protection is not desirable. Variable access would enable a user to limit and vary exposure of a plant within to environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,063,822 (Muller) and 3,896,586 (Caldwell) are typical of rigid greenhouses that prevent easy access to plants.
Access should also be considered in terms of simply viewing the plant. Easy viewing enables a user to more accurately assess the plant's condition. However, as a plant grows, it will fill more of the greenhouse. Therefore, viewing access should be modifiable depending upon the size of the plant within, when using a translucent greenhouse. Several prior art greenhouses illustrate either a lack of modifiable viewing access such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,453 (Moorehead), or very limited access such as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,226,812 (Goldberg).
Finally, access should also be considered in terms of the plant's need for ventilation when appropriate. Ventilation should also be modifiable according to ever changing environmental conditions.
A greenhouse should also be lightweight and inexpensive when constructed to house individual plants because of the desired potential of covering many plants in a cost effective manner. Prior art systems such as Wallace with U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,137,667 and 4,267,665, and Moorehead are designed to be lined with water to create a thermal buffer that warms the plant with retained heat when it is cold outside. However, these systems are unnecessarily heavy and can be time consuming to set up, as well as to keep standing. It is possible to have thermal retention to maintain a warmer environment for a plant without resorting to a water-lined greenhouse. Water-lined greenhouses are combersome and floppy, and require great care to insure that they do not fall over and crush the plants desired to be protected. Water-lined greenhouses introduce maintence problems associated with filling, re-filling, and adjusting water levels.
A greenhouse also requires anchoring to prevent them from blowing away, and accidental tipping, thus exposing the plant to harsh conditions at the worst of times. While the device could be made heavier to prevent this, a lightweight device is easier to handle by the user, especially when multiple greenhouses are being set-up and later stored. Using soil to anchor the greenhouse enables a greenhouse to be lighter, while taking advantage of plentiful anchoring materials surrounding it.
Many prior art greenhouses have been crude enclosures of, for example, paper caps. While inexpensive, they can not provide all the features mentioned above and are often wasted after one, or less, seasons. Therefore, if reusable, a cost effective greenhouse must also be easy to store, rigid in order to protect itself from rough handling and to make it stackable for more compact storage, and should come as a single piece for convenience and portability.
Finally, transitioning of a plant from a covered to a physically unprotected state can shock plants. The shock can delay growth and produce a weaker plant more susceptible to disease or insects. Greenhouses in the prior art substantially lack the ability to adequately transition plants. A better greenhouse allows for more gradual hardening of a plant as it is introduced by phases into the environment.
Therefore, it would be an advantage over the prior art to provide a single plant greenhouse that can enable a user to have an entirely rigid, single piece greenhouse that is reusable, inexpensive, provides easy and adjustable ventilation, viewing and tool and hand access, be anchorable to the soil to prevent inadvertent uncovering of a vulnerable plant, be stackable for easy storage, and enable better transitioning of a plant to a hardened and healthy state.